[P2P-F] Fwd: [opennetcoalition] European Parliament Study Confirms ACTA Must Be Rejected

[Michel Bauwens]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: La Quadrature du Net <jz at laquadrature.net>
Date: Wed, Jul 20, 2011 at 5:08 PM
Subject: [opennetcoalition] European Parliament Study Confirms ACTA Must Be
Rejected
To: opennetcoalition at laquadrature.net


La Quadrature du Net - For immediate release

Permanent link:
http://www.laquadrature.net/en/european-parliament-study-confirms-acta-must-be-rejected


European Parliament Study Confirms ACTA Must Be Rejected



*** Paris, July 20th, 2011 - The EU Parliament just published a study
assessing ACTA in view of its upcoming ratification vote. Most of the report
includes the typical copyright extremism nonsense, especially when it comes
to the digital environment. However, this scholarly study cannot but
recognize that ACTA contains serious legal flaws and brings nothing to EU
citizens. Despite trying hard to help the Commission, it is forced to
conclude by suggesting that the EU Parliament should reject ACTA. ***


After the strong criticisms expressed by EU academics, this study [1]
commissioned by the Directorate-General for External Policies of the
European Parliament also recognizes ACTA's important flaws, while
underlining that it is "difficult to point to any significant advantages
that ACTA provides for EU citizens beyond the existing international
framework." According to the study, "unconditional consent would be an
inappropriate response from the European Parliament given the issues that
have been identified with ACTA as it stands".

The study reaches that conclusion without even offering a comprehensive and
objective assessment of the digital chapter. It could have gone much further
than merely stating that the worst provisions of previous leaked drafts do
not appear in the final text. Indeed, a detailed comparison with the
requests of RIAA in 2008 shows that the copyright lobby's demands have
deeply influenced the final text.

As a result of the copyright lobbies' noxious influence, ACTA still includes
a set of measures for stepping up the war on the sharing of culture over the
Internet [2]. By pushing for "cooperation" with rights holders and
threatening Internet companies with criminal measures, ACTA would force them
to police their networks and services, monitoring their users'
communications, systematically circumventing judicial processes [3]. This is
why the United Nations Rapporteur for freedom of expression recently
expressed his concern with the impact of ACTA on rights and freedoms online
[4].

"The study falls short of questioning the legitimacy of the "war on sharing"
and of the dangerous provisions negotiated by the Commission that amount to
creating a private copyright police of the Net. Even though the study is
rather complacent with the entertainment industries' extremism, it cannot
but suggest that ACTA is harmful for democracy and should be rejected. It
proposes so many issues that should be fixed in ACTA before it could be
ratified that it is a 'politically correct' way of stating that the whole
agreement is totally unacceptable." said Jérémie Zimmermann, spokesperson of
La Quadrature du Net.

"ACTA started as an exercise of circumvention of democracy. It resulted in a
text that the study recognizes as either useless or harmful. The Members of
European Parliament must send a clear message that ACTA will not be imposed
on them, and reject it right away." concluded Philippe Aigrain, co-founder
and strategic advisor of La Quadrature.


* Références *

1. http://www.laquadrature.net/files/INTA%20-%20ACTA%20assessment.pdf

2. See our analysis:
http://www.laquadrature.net/en/acta-updated-analysis-of-the-final-version

3. Such outsourcing is planned by many other legal texts or contractual
agreements.  ( http://www.laquadrature.net/en/anti-sharing-directive-ipred &
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20073522-261/exclusive-top-isps-poised-to-adopt-graduated-response-to-piracy/)

4.
http://www.laquadrature.net/en/un-report-on-freedom-of-expression-bashes-g8-acta-hadopi



** About la Quadrature du Net **


La Quadrature du Net is an advocacy group that promotes the rights and
freedoms of citizens on the Internet. More specifically, it advocates for
the adaptation of French and European legislations to respect the founding
principles of the Internet, most notably the free circulation of knowledge.

In addition to its advocacy work, the group also aims to foster a better
understanding of legislative processes among citizens. Through specific and
pertinent information and tools, La Quadrature du Net hopes to encourage
citizens' participation in the public debate on rights and freedoms in the
digital age.

La Quadrature du Net is supported by French, European and international NGOs
including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Open Society Institute and
Privacy International.

List of supporting organisations :
http://www.laquadrature.net/en/they-support-squaring-net-la-quadrature-du-net


** Press contact and press room **

Jérémie Zimmermann, jz at laquadrature.net, +33 (0)615 940 675

http://www.laquadrature.net/en/press-room



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